Dental forceps



Oct. 10,L 1939. I c. n.-BURNETT DENTAL FORCEPS Filed Feb. 20.. 1939 Patented Oct. 10, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DENTAL FORCEPS Chester R. Burnett, Niles, Mich.

Application February 20, 1939, Serial No. 257,555

1 claim.

rIhis invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in dental forceps.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a dental instrument of the above mentioned character in which a pair of cowhorn type, beak jaws is provided and is adapted to be operated by means of a toggle lever operated wedge members whereby said jaws may be applied to certain lower molar teeth having slanting or crooked roots, otherwise diicult to extract so that pressure may be exerted on the jaws to cause the splitting of the lower molar teeth and facilitating the easy extraction thereof.

A further object of this invention is to provide a dental instrument of the above mentioned character having a jaw limiting screw extending between the jaws and adapted to engage the top of the molar being extracted or split whereby the jaws of the instrument will not slip down upon the jaw bone and cause undue injury.

With the above and other objects in View that will become apparent as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel form, combination and arrangement of ;0 parts hereinafter more fully described, shown in the accompanying drawing, wherein,

Figure l is a top elevational View of the device embodying this invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same illus- `5 trating the cowhorn beak jaws and showing the depth limiting screw; i

Figure 3 is a horizontal view of the jaw operating mechanism with parts broken away illustrating the jaw controlling wedge;

v0 Figure 4 is a vertical cross sectional View taken on line lof Figure 2, looking in the direction of the arrows, illustrating the toggle lever arrangement;

Figure 5 is a side elevational view of the toggle 5 operated rod showing a portion thereof in crosssection to more clearly illustrate details of construction;

Figure 6 is a front elevational detail View of the depth limiting screw;

0 Figure 7 is a side elevational View of the depth limiting screw; and

Figure 8 is a side elevational view of a modir fled form of the invention. i

In the accompanying drawing illustrating the invention and wherein like reference characters will be employed to designate like parts throughout the same, the reference character 5 will generally be employed to designate a pair of dental bisect forceps including a frame portion 6 hav- 0 ing top and bottom walls 1 and 8 respectively,

providing a compartment 9 open at its sides and forward end, the rear end of the frame portion carrying a pair of pivoted finger gripping handles i9 and I I pivotally supported in cut-away portions I2 of the frame portion 6 by means of 5 pivot pins I3,

A pair of lower molar splitting and gripping jaws I4 is pivotally mounted in the frame housing 9 adjacent the forward end at opposite sides of said housing upon pins I5, the forward ends of l0 said jaws projecting forwardly of the body portion of the forceps and carrying at said forward ends, downwardly and forwardly extending cowhorn type beaks I 6 adapted for splitting and gripping engagement with a lower molar.

The beaks I 6 are normally separated by means of the coil spring Il extending transversely of the frame housing 9 and seated at its ends in recesses I8 formed in adjacent inner faces of jaws I4.

The inner ends I9 of the splitting and gripping jaws are adapted to be separated by means of a V-shaped wedge 20, floating in the housing 9 with the pointed end thereof extending forwardly between the inner ends of the jaws.

Slidably mounted in the housing 9 in a bore 20 therein is an operating rod 22 having one end reduced as at 23 for connection with the wedge 2D while the free end of the rod extends rearwardly betwen the finger operating handles I0 35 and I.

As shown in Fig. 5, the operating rod 22 is provided near one end with a longitudinal slot 24 while the extreme free end 25 is bifurcated as at 25. Formed at right angles to the furcation 26 40. are slots 2l for receiving an operating pin which will be hereinafter more fully described.

Pivotally mounted in the slot 24 are toggle links 28 held in place by means of a pivot pin 29 fastened by any suitable means. of the toggle links 28 are pivoted between lugs 3|) formed integral on the inner faces of the handle grips I0 and II. Pivot pins 3| extend through the lugs 30 and links 28 to allow free pivotal movement thereof. Similar toggle links i 32 are adapted to operate in the slot 26 and are connected by means of a pivot pin 33 having operative sliding connection within the slots 27 as clearly shown in Fig. l. The opposite ends of the toggle links 32 are pivotally connected be- 55 tween the lugs 3i)A and are held in place by means of the pivot pins 3|.

A forwardly and downwardly directed inclined screw 35 is'threaded through the front end of the top plate l of the body portion of the forceps The free ends 45,

and is presented in the general plane of the cowhorn type beaks I6, the upper end of the screw is knurled as at 36 while the lower end of the screw is provided with a foot 31 adapted to engage the top of a lower molar and limit the downward movement of the gripping and splitting jaws I6.

In Fig. 8 a modied form of the invention includes a slightly different toggle arrangement. The housing frame 6a is provided with top and bottom walls 'la and 8a between which is pivoted cowhorn type jaws Ma mounted on pivot pins |5a. rI'he jaws lBa are identical to the jaws I6 shown in Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive and pivoted between the top and bottom plates 1a and 8a are finger gripping handles Hla and lla by means of pins I3a. The limiting screw 35a is also mounted in the forward portion of housing plate 1a and extends downwardly and forwardly between the cowhorn type jaws |6a.

It will be noted that the operating rod 22a is shortened in length and is provided with a slot for receiving toggle levers 28a which are pivotally held in place by a pivot pin 29a. The free ends of the toggle links 28a are pivotally mounted between lugs 39a as at Sla formed on the inner faces of the finger operating handles la and Ha.

The mode of operation of the device is as follows: It will be assumed that the lower molar to be extracted included roots inclined outwardly or crooked which are considered extremely difficult to extract in view of serious injury to the jaw bone, by the expansion exerted by the roots.

First, the limiting screw 35 or 35a may be adjusted to limit the downward movement of the cowhorn jaws I6 on the lower molar to the desired distance. After the jaws have been correctly presented to the molar, the handle grips ID and Il are moved together by tightening the grip thereon, causing the cowhorn jaws to split the molar and divide the same into longitudinal sections whereby the sections may be more readily removed Without the usual pain to the patient or the deleterious effect caused by bruising the jaw bone tissues.

It is to be understood that the form of the invention herewith shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

I claim:

In a dental forceps of the character described, comprising a frame portion, a pair of cowhorn type jaws pivotally mounted between the frame portion, a spring for urging the jaws apart, a V-shaped wedge for moving the jaws together, a pair of hand grips pivoted to the rear end of the frame portion, a slide rod mounted in the frame portion having its inner end connected to the V-shaped wedge, toggle levers connecting the slide rod and hand grips and means presented between the cowhorn type jaws for limiting the downward movement of the jaws on the tooth being operated on.

CHESTER R. BURNE'IT. 

